Can Design Change the World?

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Green architecture gets a lot of press, and smart companies are starting to see that green buildings can not only help preserve the environment, but also help a business's bottom line—not to mention garner press. Can businesses even push themselves beyond LEED in terms of saving the environment and their own dollars?

Traditionally, environmentalists have been perceived as being antitech, antibusiness, and antiprosperity. We're now seeing a new kind of environmental movement that's interested in embracing science and technology for better solutions, and that includes businesses.

We talk a lot about a bright green economy. But the most negative force that has the largest environmental impact is inefficiency. Businesses need to get smarter about delivering what people want, without wasting resources. They need to realize that no one makes money by making more waste.

As for green architecture, LEED was the goal only a few years ago. But now people who are on the cutting edge are going beyond LEED, such as the development of totally self-sufficient, zero-energy-footprint flats in London, developed by Yorklake and BedZed. Businesses should realize that they will make more money if they push farther than LEED.

Some claim that buildings cost less up front by being built green—using materials from the site to cut down on transportation costs such as fuel, for example. I think we're now headed toward the goal of zero-energy, zero-waste buildings. Sure, it sounds really dramatic. But once we get a compelling, good example, the whole field of green architecture will shift.

Some companies don't have the resources to build a fancy new green building or develop a new green technology. What are alternative possibilities to producing "worldchanging" products?

I think some of the most impressive worldchanging designs aren't just things, but ways of thinking. The idea of car sharing from Zipcar is a brilliant innovation. A company such as Netflix does no green marketing, but it is a worldchanging business. It saves the resources that would have gone to the construction of a Blockbuster-like store.

And it saves consumers from using gas to drive to the video store. It saves plastic boxes, their manufacturing, etc. Netflix offers consumers the service they want, at a fraction of the ecological impact of the previous business model. It's important for companies to rethink processes. They don't need technological innovations. Services and not just products can be worldchanging.

Jana is a reporter with BusinessWeek.com in New York.